Waitress
by planet p
Summary: Nurse Jackie Tyler AU; Nyssa has returned to Earth, and waitresses at a diner in Cardiff. Nyssa/Adric
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** I don't own _Doctor Who_ or any of its characters.

**Author's Notes** This was written in 2006 and contains a fair amount of cussing. My apologies in advance for the incorrect spelling of Tegan. This is part of the Nurse Jackie Tyler AU, even though I spelt Jackie wrong too, as Jacki instead of Jackie... Ish =(

* * *

The bell above the door tinkled, and a boy walked in. His eyes were dark like coal and his dark hair fell above his shoulders in bouncy waves. Nyssa made her way across the linoleum floor and took up her place behind the yellow laminex counter. The boy smiled as he approached. "Just a coffee thanks, darl." Nyssa nodded and set off to make a coffee. She watched absent-mindedly as coffee poured into the mug, spirals of steam spinning up into the lazy evening air. Her vision blurred, her mind slipped into the past.

* * *

_Teagan was in the kitchen, searching through the cupboards for the coffee, a hard determined expression upon her face. Nyssa stood by the fridge; she pulled the apple juice bottle out of the door and shut the fridge. There was a loud slamming noise. She looked up startled. The apple juice had slipped from her grip, smacked loudly on the floor, and spilt all over the floor, trickling between the lino tiles. Teagan screamed loudly, kicked the bench and stormed off, out of the room._

_Nyssa bent down to pick the bottle up, to stop any more juice from spilling out across the floor. It was obvious why Teagan was so angry, so fidgety. She was mad at the Doctor for leaving Adric, for not going back; mad at herself for letting Adric talk her into leaving him. And now he was dead. Tears welled up in Nyssa's eyes and fell to the floor with a tiny pitter-patter._

_Dead. Really dead. Actually dead._

_Nyssa sniffed loudly and brushed her tears away angrily. Her father was dead, her planet and her people gone, and now…_

_That damned planet had taken Adric away from them, from her – Earth. Stupid hunk of rock! Stupid sun! Stupid stars! Stupid world!_

_She thumped on the tiles. Why? Why had he left her? And in that moment the world no longer seemed to matter, nothing seemed to matter. Only her grief, deep down inside, welling up like lava, and she felt that it was all she would ever feel._

"_Nyssa?"_

_She looked up. The Doctor had walked in. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make such a mess." She sniffed loudly._

_The Doctor shook his head. "Oh, Nyssa! No!" He knelt down and brushed the tears from her cheeks. "I'm not mad at you. Not over a silly little thing like that."_

_Nyssa half-sobbed, half-laughed. "I'll clean it up." She stood and walked over to the sink._

* * *

"Frig!" The coffee had overflowed the mug and spilt over the bench and down onto the floor. Nyssa blew out her fringe. Just her luck!

The teen was shifting his weight on and off the counter, his hands gripping the hard laminex surface, leaning backwards and forwards. He seemed quite bored. Nyssa returned from around the counter with a mug and gestured to the tables by waving her hand. "You can sit anywhere you like." The boy nodded and took a seat by the window. Nyssa placed the cup down in front of him. "Sugar's over there." She nodded to the bowl of sugar sachets at the end of the table. He was staring out the window, his head rested on the table. Nyssa glanced up at the clock briefly. Eleven thirty-two pm. She sighed and looked back to the boy, unsure whether he had noticed his coffee or not. "Cold outside?"

The boy looked up, lost for a moment. His eyes widened and a wild enthusiasm sprang to his voice. He laughed. "Hell, yeah. Freezing! Had a bit of a tiff with me sister. She's got this new boyfriend who's a complete wanker." He rolled his eyes and let his breath out, slumping in the seat. "She thinks he's Prince – bloody – Charming," he deliberated, an incredulous note in his voice as if he thought otherwise. "Too dumb to see he's slimy and green." The boy pulled off his knitted vest and looked up at her. "Stupid uniform," he mumbled to himself.

Making a split-second decision, Nyssa sat down opposite the boy. "So you're…"

"Uni. Third year. Teaching." He hit his head with his palm. "I only did it cos she wanted to become a teacher but didn't think she'd be clever enough."

Nyssa nodded. "So what did you want to do?"

The boy laughed. "Oh, um, public service: office job, manual labour - mindless shit. Leaves me free to get smashed on weekends and do the hell what I like while my life goes merrily down the gurgler."

Nyssa smiled. "Really?"

"Really." The boy looked up into her eyes. Nyssa looked away, something about those eyes unsettled her. "What about you? Got 'ny kids? A hubby in the cupboard?"

"No." She shook her head.

He laughed. "They're bloody buggers, especially the real," he smiled and glanced around the room nervously as if he thought something there might help him explain; his elbows on the table, and his hands in his hair, "bloody midgetty ones." He indicated the height with his hand above the floor. "Oh, the frig, they piss me off." He ripped on his hair as if to demonstrate to this affect. "Been doin' bloody placement up at the, um," he was waving his hands towards the darkened windows, "bloody primary school. Yeah!" He licked his dry lips and reached for his mug and took a sip of coffee. Putting the mug down, he reached across for the sugar, and continued on. "They're always under ya feet, and ya like," he thumped the table with his fist, "wanna yell at them, cos ya always fallin' over them. Like: 'Can't you bloody midgets keep to ya bloody selves? God damn it!' But ya know," he emptied three sugars into his coffee and stirred it with the teaspoon from the saucer, "'S a bit full of fa littlies. They'll be like, far out freaked. So I'm just like: 'Ya think I can move through here, darl?' Crazy stuff!"

Nyssa nodded, wondering if the boy had had too much to drink. He smelt of vodka, smoke and girl's perfume. "Rough night?"

"Yeah, kinda." He ran his hands through his hair, rubbed his eyes, and lay his head down on the table again. He didn't speak for a while. Nyssa let her thoughts wonder to another place and time. She was old now, and worn from life and caring. Once she had been young. She had had a family then too: a father, a step-mother; a home. But now that was all gone, a fading memory that she was trying so desperately to cling on to. She had traveled in a space ship with a strange man and his companions; but she had left them too, to fight for a cause she thought she believed in, to get away from a past that she no longer wanted. Now here she was. Apparently she had violated some law or another, at the time she hadn't really cared. So the TimeLords had put her on trial. Now she was a waitress in some dodgy 24 hour diner in a place called Cardiff, not even London. She sighed to herself. Earth! She hated the place, but she no longer had a home, so she had got second best. Second worst, she thought to herself miserably.

"Fuckin' crazy bitch!" the boy swore loudly. Nyssa was jolted back to reality. The boy was crying now. Nyssa was unsure what to do. "Fucking bitch. Just like her to get all high and mighty. She's just bloody jumpin' to his command, like a proper bloody soldier. I go to a couple a bloody parties! Oh she's… she's, I can't even think of names to call her, she's that fucked up. And that fucking boyfriend of hers! Wish I could bloody kill the bastard. Talks about me being outta fuckin' line, but I don't bloody bash her." He buried his head in his hands, sobbing, tears leaking from between his fingers. Feeling very awkward, Nyssa reached a hand out for his arm to comfort him. He pulled away. Next second he had stormed out the door, leaving it to slam as he went.

Sandy came in to replace her at 4am. Nyssa pulled on a red coat and stepped outside into the bitter hazy morning air.

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_I couldn't think of a suitable title. If you've any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. Thank you for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

Nyssa sat in the bar, her head spinning. The smoke and flashing lights made her delirious.

Her mind replayed the events of that day. She had got back to her flat at five, stopped by the shops to get some things first, and had lay down to sleep for a few hours before she got back up again at eight. In the morning she found that Roy had left a message on the answering machine. "Hey, baby… I, um… I'm sorry, but it's over. I just… It won't work, we both know it. It can't work. We're too different. I pray you don't take this too hard, you know I still love you, but it can't work. Goodbye." She had grabbed the phone, ripped it out of the wall, and smashed it on the floor.

* * *

__

Nyssa sat down at the bar and spun in her stool. Adric took up a stool beside her. He rested his head on the bar, looking bored and just a little bit sick.

The Doctor and Teagan had gone off somewhere. Nyssa didn't much care where. All that seemed to be going through her head were Teagan's last words. "I'm sorry, Nyssa, you can't come. You're too young, besides, someone has to look after Adric, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Then she had winked as if sharing some private joke, but Nyssa had just nodded, her face blank, but glum inside.

She turned to Adric and kicked him in the leg. "This is your fault. I can't believe I'm stuck with the freak!" She shook her head.

Adric looked across at her and rolled his eyes. "Why, you jealous Teags got the Doctor all to herself?" He snorted into his hands.

Nyssa rolled her eyes. "Oh, very funny. I'm just laughing so much. Can't you see? Hah-hah."

Adric sat up now. "Get over it." Seeing her scowling expression, he added: "Cheer up, I'll buy you a drink." He got her a pineapple soft drink in a tall glass with a pretty straw.

She hit her head down on the bar. "Oh, that's sure to cheer me up a mile! Thanks a billion! Rub it in, why don't you!" Adric frowned. He didn't appear to understand. "I'm not a little girl!" Adric smiled. Nyssa slapped him.

Rubbing his cheek, he turned back to the barman. "A vodka for the little girl, tah." The barman nodded and passed Nyssa a small glass. She drank it in one go and coughed loudly. She whacked the bar with her hand. Adric laughed. He took a sip of the pineapple soft drink and got off his bar stool. "Let's try something, shall we?" Nyssa frowned, and followed him to the end of the room where a strange machine sat. As if in answer to her unasked question, Adric turned to her. "It's a jukebox. It plays music," he explained. "The Doctor and Romana had this argument one day, as you do, and anyway, the next day they were just fine again, like – like magic. So I asked the Doctor how he had done it. Two words: jukebox and jelly babies. Of course, that didn't make a word of sense, so I asked the Doctor to explain. All girls like candy and dancing, he said."

Nyssa nodded. "So?"

Adric pulled a paper bag out of his pocket and passed it to her. She frowned and opened it. Jelly babies. Adric nodded. "And…" He put a few coins into the jukebox. Music started. Nyssa frowned. Adric held out his hands. "May I have this dance?"

Nyssa laughed and took his hands. The barman glanced across at them and smiled. They couldn't dance for the life of them, but they looked happy. The girl kept laughing and the boy kept stepping on her feet.

Nyssa ordered herself a double shot of vodka. The music was quite horrid, and she didn't like it at all.

"Hey!"

She turned in her seat and stared at the boy who had addressed her. She laughed. It was the boy she had spoken to not a few days ago. She was glad to see him looking better. "Hi."

"If I may enquire, what… Why are you here?"

Nyssa shook her head. "I don't know."

The boy laughed. "Oh, me neither. I'm just sittin' here listenin' to this really crap music for no reason at all. You know what, not no reason. It was cold outside. I decided to pop in, and here I am. Tah-dah! So, um…"

"Call me Nyssa."

The boy nodded. "Will do." He held out his hand. She shook it. "Daniel." He jumped to his feet and screamed, holding his hands out wide like a scarecrow. "You wanna get outta here?"

Nyssa stood up and nodded. She brushed the hair from her face and followed him out. It was cold outside, she shivered and rubbed her arms. Daniel passed her the shirt, which he was wearing over a tee shirt. They walked for a while, down sleepy streets, shop fronts and narrow alleys. He stopped suddenly. Nyssa looked up. She laughed. They had come to the sea. Daniel smiled. "You can almost see the end of the world."

"It's beautiful." The sea was peaceful and calm. Moon beams played on the soft waves, the water as dark as the night that swirled restlessly all around them, as dark as eternity.

Daniel closed his eyes and listened to the waves lapping against the boardwalk. "It is. And old, so very old. Imagine, to be that old, to have seen such life." He sighed. They sat down on a bench and watched the sea for a long time. Daniel placed an arm around her shoulder. Nyssa leant her head on his shoulder.

She awoke to a loud honking. She sat up, startled. It was morning. She gazed across at Daniel, sound asleep. Cars honked to one another on the road not far away. Nyssa shook him. He mumbled something, blinked, and sat up. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize the time."

Nyssa smiled. "No, it's okay. I shut my eyes, just for a second, but I must have drifted off."

Daniel smiled. "How would you like a coffee? My shout." She laughed and they walked off again.

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_Okay, the_ Edit/Preview Document_ feature does not want to co-operate and put the diagonal ruler where I want it to put it... I will fix that later._


	3. Chapter 3

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Nyssa sat against a hard stone wall, her face unreadable. The Doctor and Teagan were with her, holed up in some dingy cell; Teagan scowling, the Doctor pacing. Adric was back in the TARDIS, running diagnostics, as the Doctor had instructed him.

At first the Doctor had meant to go alone. He had said so when they materialized. The planet looked rather peaceful, not threatening in any way. But Teagan was not having any bar of it. So in the end Teagan was allowed to go as well, as "company", apparently. Teagan was too pleased with her little victory to pick on this logic.

"But then…" Nyssa stared up at them. "I want to come too."

"Nyssa-"

"What if you run into trouble? What if you need my help?"

Teagan frowned, her mind slowly connecting the dots. If it was her, she wouldn't want to be stuck with the "nerd" either. Plus, he was a boy, and an egotistical one at that. She turned slowly to the Doctor. "It can't hurt. I mean, Nyssa's clever, maybe she can – you know… What I mean to say is, if all you really want to do is explore, well, you could do with someone like Nyssa."

The Doctor frowned. "Oh? Are you implying that I-"

"I'm not saying that you're stupid, Doctor, I'm just saying… Oh, for goodness sakes, it's not like we're in any danger. You said so your self, this place is uninhabited."

"As far as I know."

"But I want to go," Nyssa interjected.

Teagan nodded. "She might learn something."

Nyssa nodded encouragingly, echoing her friend. "I might learn something, something new, that I don't already know. And what's the point of traveling in a time machine if I don't get to leave it, don't get to explore new worlds? I'll be good. I promise."

The Doctor frowned. "Alright then. Just this once." He turned to Adric, who was reading a book about quantum physics. "Adric, if you don't mind my asking this one little favour? Could you possibly, perhaps, find a spare moment to start the diagnostics on the TARDIS?"

Adric nodded, not looking up from his book; not at all interested in the prospect of exploring a new-found alien planet.

Nyssa scowled. Adric probably hadn't even noticed that they weren't back yet, even though the Doctor promised that they would be back in time for dinner. That boy was so absent-minded when it came to important things. Time just seemed to mean nothing to him. Ten minutes or ten hours, all the same to him when he was in that "zone". She bet he hadn't forgotten the dinner part.

They had been examining some old ruins, which the Doctor termed "very curious", when they were discovered. The natives seemed not to notice them at first, but when they did their weapons were trained on them. The Doctor had tried to speak to them. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. This i-" The native who appeared to be in charge shot a warning shot at a nearby tree and it exploded behind them. All three had jumped. The Doctor decided, out of the best interests of both himself and his companions, it would be best not to engage in conversation at the present moment. They were bound, blindfolded, and the next thing they knew, stuck in this cell.

"This is just stupid," Teagan was off on her high horse again. "What is wrong with these people… things? A fly could see we meant them no harm. This is just crazy. They're all crazy. That's it! I'm never coming to this stupid, ugly, rotten… planet again. That's fa sure. They can shove it where it fits. Infact, I don't even care if they shove it where it doesn't fit – good luck to them. Getting any poor buggers to come here. They'd either have to be smashed, stoned, crazy, stupid, all of the above, or Adric. This isn't room service-"

The Doctor took her shoulders firmly, to stop her pacing. "Teagan, could you please stop? I know this is all very exciting and fun, but I'm starting to come down with a terrible headache, and I can't – for the life of me – possibly think with you making all that racket." If it had been anyone else, if it hadn't been in that sweet, gentle, caring voice of his – with just a hint of annoyance – Teagan would have slapped him one good. Instead she nodded and sat down beside Nyssa. She turned to stare at Nyssa. "Let's start a club."

Nyssa snorted, clapping a hand over her mouth quickly. "For whom? What would be our purpose?"

"Adric haters united."

Nyssa smiled. "I like it. I'd join."

Teagan frowned. "Stupid git!"

Nyssa turned to face her. "Isn't that a bit light for you? You sound like the Doctor."

"You're right. Ego-centric, mathematically-crazed, hypoglyceamic obsessed, girl phobic, psychotic, condescending, big-headed git."

Nyssa clapped a hand over her mouth again. "Swamp rat," she suggested.

Teagan narrowed her eyes. "Sewer rat, more like."

A sudden sound, a lock scraping in a door, brought them back to their senses. The Doctor, who had been sitting across the room with his eyes closed, stood up. The men who had brought them from the forest entered first, followed by a woman. Nyssa's breath caught in her chest. The woman stepped forward. Pale as moonlight, even possibly as death itself, with large aqua orbs for eyes, full blue lips, and long black hair, she raised her chin. "I am Senet. You may not speak. I know who you are." She seemed to be addressing the Doctor, for she had eyes only for him. "I look forward to your company. I know you have so much to tell me." She turned to the two women now. "I see you have aqqcuired subserviants. I do hope they are satisfactory. I would be most displeased if they were to let you down. I can see you value them highly." She turned to the guards. "Let us see, shall we. Take the woman."

"No!" The Doctor stepped forward.

Senet smiled. "I believe I did ask you not to talk, and in fact, I neither gave you permission to do so. Why do you continue to do so? Do you desire to displease me? Is this action intentional? Tut, tut, tut." She waved her finger before his eyes. "That will not do. I can see that you are desperately in need of some manners." She turned back to the guards, a hand out to stop them advancing any further. "They are afraid. I sense their fear. This is unfortunate. Do they not trust him I wonder? Take the young one instead." The guards obeyed. Teagan threw herself on one of the guards in an effort to stop him taking her friend. She bit and scratched something awful before being thrown against a wall with a satisfied thump. Her eyes went in her head. She fell to the stone floor like a rag doll that had merely been dumped in favour of a prettier Barbie doll.

"No!" Nyssa screamed.

The Doctor dashed over to Teagan. He shook her. "Teagan. Teagan? Teagan!" A hint of pleading entered his voice then. "Teagan wake up. Look at me." Nyssa was dragged from the room, screaming and kicking, a hand over her mouth to stifle her. The woman swept out after her guards. The Doctor made to follow but the door was slammed in his face. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?" There was no answer.

Nyssa had been bound to a chair, a bright light shining down in her face. She shut her eyes. There was a familiar scraping of a lock and the swish of a cloak. She knew that the woman known as Senet had entered the room. She had come to question her.

She would not talk. She would not betray the Doctor.

"You are pretty and young. I can see why the Doctor has chosen you. Youth brings fitness, to both the body and the mind. Yes, a most pleasing choice." She seemed to be taking to herself more than Nyssa. She addressed the girl now. "Do you serve your master well? Do you please him?"

Nyssa's eyes snapped open. The light stung her head, but she didn't care. She fixed the pale woman with an icy stare. "He is not my master! He does not own me!"

The woman snickered. "Spirit, I see. You are no primitive girl, no peasant, are you? Tell me child? From which world do you come?" Nyssa kept her mouth determinately shut. "You will tell me, or I will make you. I am giving you the privilege to choose. Tell me, or I will be forced to make you." Nyssa remained as silent as before. "I see we are getting nowhere with these formalities, this politeness. Guards, bring the necessary instruments!" Nyssa tried not to tremble, tried not to let the woman know she was afraid. Teagan would never tell. Teagan wouldn't betray the Doctor. Then you mustn't either, she told herself stubbornly. You must prove that you are not a little girl, prove you can be trusted. The Doctor's words of encouragement echoed in her head, only this time they weren't directed at Teagan. Brave heart, Nyssa. She took deep calming breaths. That was all she needed to do. Keep a brave heart, keep her mouth shut.

The guards had returned with the instruments. Nyssa squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to meet those unnaturally green-blue orbs, not wanting Senet to see her fear. She was not afraid. She would be brave. "You might as well give up," she said, icily calm. "I'll never betray the Doctor."

"Ah, that's what you say now." Nyssa didn't like the inclination of quiet delight in the woman's voice. She was mocking her. Keep calm, she told herself, brave heart. "Begin," Senet instructed her guards. Nyssa's eyes flew open. She screamed. They were burning the skin on her arm. "All you have to do is tell me, and the pain will stop," Senet spoke to her soothingly.

"I'll die before that happens!" Nyssa could hardly breath for the pain, let alone speak.

"That can be arranged. But then you see, my little dilemma, I will have to find another means of uncovering the information I want. This Teagan, perhaps?"

"You LEAVE Teagan OUT of this!"

Senet laughed softly. "I am not an unjust woman. I ask questions, and all I desire is answers. I could hurt your friend simply because I can. But I feel it is much more appropriate that you choose. Yes. All you need to do is tell me what I want to know. I have said it before, I say it again. The pain will stop and your friend will not be hurt. Now tell me. You are a good person, I know. You don't want to see your friend hurt, surely?"

Tears were streaming down Nyssa's face. She clenched her teeth, her eyes staring straight into Senet's with as much hate as she could muster. The burning in her arm had stopped. Senet nodded to the guards. "Why do you punish yourself? I can easily make the pain go away. Just say the word, and it will stop." She was shaking her head sadly. One of the men emerged with a knife, a dangerously sharp knife. He began to cut and pull the skin away from the burnt arm. Nyssa's thoughts were lost for the pain and screaming. She almost seemed disconnected from herself, and the screaming disconcerted her. It sounded weak. She did not like it. She wished she could just slap whoever was screaming, tell them to shut up, but she was tied down, she couldn't move. The bright light faded and she was falling into cold and darkness, strange eyes staring out of the blackness, strange voices whispering hot in her ear.

When she awoke the screaming was gone, and it was just the pain and the large aqua orbs staring back at her out of that pale face. She was glad the screaming had stopped. She hurt so much. Perhaps she would die and it would be over. She snorted loudly, tears coming to her eyes. If only.

The woman blinked, the orbs disappeared and reappeared moments later. Nyssa tried to concentrate on those eyes. Girlish laughter rang around the room, rang in her ears. Dimly, she was aware of a pain in the back of her neck. She couldn't see what was going on. She didn't turn. It didn't seem as important as watching those aqua orbs. She had to make sure they didn't disappear again. "Do you wish to tell me anything?" Nyssa didn't reply; watched the way those blue lips moved and the sound drifted slowly, lazily, to her ears. "How do you feel?"

Feel? Nyssa questioned herself in her mind. I feel… fine. I feel… pain. Pain? She frowned. No, not pain. She did not hurt. Not much anyhow. Annoyance. She nodded to herself in her mind. Yes, annoyance. There's a strange nagging sensation. I don't like it, but I don't mind it. I'm not worried. Words formed on her lips slowly. "Good."

Senet frowned. "You feel… 'good'?"

Yes! Yes! Say 'yes'. "Yes, I do."

"And will you tell me?"

Tell you what? "What?"

"What I want to know of course?"

Of course! What does she want to know? "What is that?"

"About the Doctor? The TimeLords?"

Nyssa blinked. "The doctor?"

"Yes."

"The doctor is… a doctor. Why do you ask all these questions?"

A flicker of impatience entered those aqua orbs. "I need you to tell me about the TimeLord. Tell me!"

TimeLord? She scrunched her nose up. "Time? I don't have my timepiece on me? I have given it to father. He has gone away for a few light cycles and I wish him to be well. I have sent my timepiece along with him to keep him well."

The woman growled, her eyes growled. The girl was resisting her, rejecting the pain. No ungrateful, inbred, underling alien savage would disobey her! She would obey! "I do not care about your father! I wish to know of the Doctor. I grow tired of these childish games." She looked away from the girl, to the guards. "Do it!" she hissed, "Do it now!"

The girl did not scream as the object was pushed into the back of her neck, did not even flinch. Her head swung back and her body began to convulse. Senet liked the effect. She smiled.

Later the girl was taken back to her cell. It was empty. The others were gone. She lay on the floor limply and shook. She was so cold. So, so cold. So alone.

Screams echoed dully in her head. They were coming from some distance. They floated lazily in and out of her mind, staying a while, going a while, but always coming back. She drifted in and out of conciousness. Cold to colder.

Guards came again. This time with food. She did not want to eat. They held her and shoved the food into her mouth, holding her mouth closed as they did. She had to swallow, or she would choke, and then she would die. Die? She wondered if she was not already dead and just passing idly through the memories of her life, the corridors of her mind, cast in shadow and darkness.

Those glowing orbs came to visit her once. Stared down at her with disgust. And then left. The guards beat her then. Beat her so bad she knew that she was not yet dead, knew that reprieve would have to wait for another day. But the questions had stopped. Of that she was thankful. Thankful that she had not betrayed the Doctor, that she would not be the one to do it. She smiled. Yes, she was brave.

"Your friend has told me what I desire to know. She will not be hurt. Not anymore. Although she has betrayed her master, she has done him a far greater service. She has spared him the pain. Spared him the humiliation. And so he has agreed to co-operate. For we are kind, and this he knows. Aren't you a good friend? You, who let your friend suffer! And for what? Your childish pride. You shall feel pain for this. Friends do not betray one another. You have betrayed yours!" Nyssa did not hear these words, did not see those eyes, did not feel that cold.

She awoke from a nightmare she could not remember properly. She sat in the corner, her knees drawn up to her chest, shaking from head to toe. She would not eat for fear her food was poisoned or drugged. They would not win. She would make sure of that. It would not be her who fell first.

The lock scraped in the door and the door was pushed open. Nyssa did not look up, did not get up. She was dragged to her feet by two guards. They took her down the hall. She watched as her tiny feet stumbled on the stone floor. Her legs felt so weak. Her mind started to drift, and colour drained from the world and she fell with a loud smack. The guards kept on dragging her up the hall like some great, lazy dead thing.

She was taken before Senet. The guards threw her down at the pale woman's feet ungraciously. "Rise," Senet instructed. Nyssa struggled into a kneeling position. The woman took her hair and lifted her face up to the ceiling. "I told you to 'rise'. You will do as I say."

Nyssa sobbed uselessly and tried to stand. She fell back down, too weak. A moment later someone had assisted her to rise and face her mistress. Sent scowled but made no comment. It was a boy who spoke. He was close at hand. Nyssa figured that he was the one helping her to stand. "It is weak. It will die unless it is given nourishment." Senet rose as if furious. The boy pulled Nyssa down with him as he fell into a kneeling position. "I did not intent to offend you, mistress. And I do not challenge your power… I would never. But I am not blind. I see that you hold some affection for this Doctor. Would it not please him so to see his pet safe and well? Perhaps he would even be grateful? He had better be grateful! But if his pet was to die, mistress, he would be most displeased." Senet nodded, a scowl across her face. "And would it not please you to see this wretched thing suffer? Let it die and its suffering will be ended. It does not deserve this. It is a traitor, and it must suffer."

"Hmm. You are right. I see your point, boy. Take it to your quarters. I am giving you charge over this wretched creature. See that it is nourished."

The boy bowed his head. "It will be done, mistress." Nyssa was dragged from the room, and passed out.

The first thing she noticed when she awoke was the feeling of something soft and squishy under her. She screamed and scrambled out of the bed. She fell with a seething thump to the hard floor. The door had just shut. The boy had returned. He turned and saw her on the floor. She hissed at him. Coal eyes stared back at her. Familiar coal eyes. Adric rushed over to her. "Shhh," he reached out a hand to silence her. She pounced at him. He stepped back quickly. "I'm here to help. I'm Adric, a friend."

Tears welled up in her eyes and overflowed down her grubby cheeks. Friend? "Friend?" she croaked.

He knelt down and brushed the dirty hair from her face. "Friend, yes. I am your friend. I want to help you. But first you must eat." He snatched a plate of some native food from the dresser and placed it down before her. She backed away, cautious. "Look, it's okay. You can eat it." He ate some himself and licked his fingers. "It's good. Try it." Nyssa crept a bit closer and snatched the plate from him, growling. He got up and left her to eat. He went a fetched the blanket and carefully wrapped it around her. Adric stood up and walked away from her. He paced around the room until she had finished eating. He pulled her to her feet. "Get up. We need to get you cleaned up. You cannot serve your mistress in this state. You are a disgrace." He dragged her to another door, pushed her inside and shut the door. She shrieked and banged on the door. It wouldn't open. He had locked her in. It seemed to be a washroom of some sort. She sat down against the wall and cried.

She awoke when a bucket of cold water was thrown over her. "I thought I told you to clean yourself. Do as I tell you from now on. I am your handler. You will obey me or be punished." Eventually he had to hold Nyssa under the shower himself, with her biting and scratching and screaming. He hit her across the face hard. "I will not have you disgrace me in front of the mistress!" He hit her again. She slumped to the floor and sobbed. "Get up and clean yourself up!" he ordered. She did not obey so he left her there, the icy water still cascading down upon her. Later he came back with a scrubbing brush and a comb and threw it down in front of her. She refused to move so he had to scrub her himself.

She was given a white robe to wear. She lay down on the bed beside Adric but did not sleep, could not sleep.

In the morning she was given work to do in the mistress's sanction. She scrubbed floors and walls, and cut food for the cooks to prepare into meals. Sometimes she worked in the gardens, other times she washed clothes. When she did not work she slept. She was beaten every night to remind her of her status as a subservient. She ate once a day.

Sometimes Senet would test her subjects' loyalty to her by making them punish their subservient. The subservient didn't have to have done anything. Most times it came out of the blue. Most times the subservient would be beaten before the mistress. Other times the handler was given other orders. Nyssa almost didn't believe her ears the first time the order was given to her handler, thought she was hearing things, or going mad. But Adric had heard right. If he hesitated, Nyssa had no way of knowing. He grabbed her, started ripping at her clothes. She backed away, shaking her head. He hit her and hit her and hit her. She stopped struggling, and all the while Senet sat and watched. Those aqua orbs wide in her pale face. She watched as her subject carried out his order, watched as the tears slid silently down the girl's face, watched with a slow smile across her blue lips. Nyssa did not move the whole time she was being raped. Somehow it wasn't like she'd imagined. She knew that she didn't want to. But she knew too that it would happen no matter how she struggled. The girl watched the pale woman, never took her eyes from those of the woman. Then the woman stood. "That will be all." Adric nodded. Snatching up Nyssa's clothes, he shoved them into her hands and pushed her ahead of him. She dashed from the room, her dress clutched to her chest, but otherwise not wearing anything. The doors shut and they were left alone in the hall. Adric stopped and turned to her. "Get your things on and get off to work. Hurry up about it. You are needed in the kitchens." Nyssa nodded, but didn't dare look into his eyes. He strode off ahead. When she was sure he was gone she slipped her dress back on, wiped her face on the front of her apron, sniffed, and set off to do the dishes.

She was peeling a red vegetable in the kitchens, when her handler burst into the room. "Put that down. We've got to go." She merely glanced at him and continued peeling. He grabbed her by the upper arm roughly. "I said come." He dragged her from the room, she was pulled after him. His silly hair flounced about ridiculously. He rounded a corner and stopped as if deciding which way to go. He chose left. She pulled away from him roughly.

"What are you doing? We cannot deceive our mistress." Adric ignored her. She pressed on. "I will not."

Adric spun around and seized her shoulders viscously. "I am your handler. You obey me!"

Nyssa laughed. "You are nothing. You do not deserve to live. I do not obey you. I obey me!"

Adric threw her against the wall. Her eyes grew wide in fear that he would beat her again. "Do not question me again!" She nodded, hitching a resolute expression to her face. "Follow me." They ran through many halls for a very long time, or so it seemed. Suddenly a guard stood before them. "Move out of the way!" Adric hissed. The guard looked from the handler to his subservient. He did not like the looks of this. He reached for his gun. Next second he fell to the cold hard floor, a kind of jagged-edged, metal disk stuck in his neck. Nyssa gasped. Blood oozed across the metal and out onto the floor. Adric pushed her face away and stepped over the shaking body. "Look away." The body stopped struggling. The man was dead. They continued up the hall. Nyssa felt numb. She was jolted back to senses by a scream. It was a woman's voice. She looked up. Teagan. She frowned. Teagan! For a moment she stared. Adric held the door open. "Out! Out! Both of you." The Doctor and Teagan stepped out into the hall. Teagan ran over to Nyssa and made to hug her. Nyssa backed away, looked to Adric. "Don't just stand there! Run!" He led the way. Nyssa watched as the door slammed shut. An energy force field sprang up to guard the door from breakout. She was pulled away by Adric, who had seized her around the wrist. She followed obediently. Teagan kept looking at her. She looked away. The woman was beginning to annoy her. They could see the outside now. A frown spread across Nyssa's face. The Doctor was frowning too. The outside. Actual sunlight. Actual trees. Actual fresh air. Like the gardens, only real, natural. There was another force field. Adric was typing madly on the computer pad. He swiped some card past a scanner. A red light bleeped. Adric thumped the wall, but there was no time to be mad. The sound of running footsteps grew louder. Adric tore the chain from around his neck and inserted it into the circuit. The energy field evaporated into thin air. "Go!" Nyssa was pushed out of the cave and into the world. She fell to the ground hard. Teagan and the Doctor pulled her to her feet. They ran. She caught a last glimpse of Senet's guards grabbing a struggling Adric before he was dragged away.

She tried to pull away but was powerless against both Teagan and the Doctor. "We'll go back for him, I promise." Teagan stared into her eyes. "But for now we need to figure out where we stand with Senet."

They pulled her inside the TARDIS. The brightness of the place scared her. She was glad Adric was no longer with them. Glad he could no longer hurt her. But she felt lost too, lost without someone to tell her what to do. She burst into raucous laughter. Teagan stared back at her fearful. "God, Nyssa, what did they do to you in there?" She stared at her friend, noticed for the first time the bruises and cuts on her body. Her eyes widened in her face. She turned to the Doctor, started to cry into his shoulder. That was the last thing Nyssa remembered before she passed out.

According to Teagan, she slept for eleven days – eleven nights – and then she awoke. Teagan was so worried. She cried everyday. Later Teagan told her everything. How Senet was an exiled Time Lord. How she planned to use the Doctor to return to Gallifrey. And then she said: "It was lucky Adric found us when he did."

Adric? Found you? Lucky? Nyssa could do nothing but stare. There were no words. She doubted there would ever be. "Adric?"

Teagan misinterpreted her troubled expression. "Adric's okay. We got him out. He's probably in the console room helping the Doctor with the last of the repairs to the TARDIS. Senet did something to the TARDIS, disabled it somehow, so that only another Time Lord could pilot it. You know, Nyssa, I'm really glad you're okay."

Nyssa nodded, hollow inside, and lay back down to rest. Teagan left soon after.

It was five hours later that the door was pushed open. Nyssa sat up, expecting to see Teagan in the doorway trying to persuade her to come to dinner. But it wasn't Teagan. And it wasn't the Doctor. It was Adric. She scrambled to the front of the bed. "You keep away from me!" Adric stopped.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you have my word."

Nyssa didn't believe him, images scrolled through her mind, clouded her vision. She sprang off the bed, knocked him to the floor with a whoomph, and placed her hands around his throat. Adric patted on her back frantically, but she didn't release him. He was gasping for air, going blue. His eyes went in his head and he just stared at the ceiling, his hand had fallen limp at his side. Nyssa started to laugh, tears streaming down her face. She stared back at Adric lying there lifeless. She had done that. She had killed him. Not Senet, not Adric – her, Nyssa. Nyssa. Her hands began to tremble uncontrollably. She wanted to shout at him, tell him it was all his fault. Her voice caught in her throat like a great lump. She sobbed loudly. She started to shake him. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. You killed him! The words repeated over and over in her head until she felt it would explode with all the shouting. "I didn't kill him!" she screamed. "I didn't mean to." She had to do something, fast. She started to try and resuscitate him. It wasn't working and she was getting frustrated. Any minute Teagan would walk in and see what she had done. She took a deep breath and blew air into his lungs again. He pushed her away. She screamed. "I'm not dead yet," he mumbled, looking a little less blue than he had a moment or two ago. She didn't speak. He sat up slowly, didn't look in her eyes, turned to walk to the door as he spoke. "I can't take back what I did, I know that. And I'm not even going to say sorry, because sorry doesn't cover it. You deserve… so much better, but… this is all I've got." He passed her an empty notepad. "Anything you want, you just write it down in this notepad, and I swear I'll do everything in my power to get it for you. Anything at all. That's all you have to do. Just write it down and give it to me, don't even have to talk to me. That's all I can offer, short of tossing myself off a cliff and topping myself." He glanced at his watch. "You'd better get off to dinner, Teagan is expecting you." He left. Nyssa stared at the notepad at her feet. Stared at it for a long time. Then she got up and went off to dinner.

Nyssa awoke from her day-dreaming. A teenage girl had come to order two coffees and a milkshake. Her mother and little sister sat by the window. The little girl was kicking her legs about impatiently.

The teen paid and Nyssa left to make their order, then went and delivered the drinks to their table. The woman was in her fourties with dark curly hair and dark eye-lined eyes. The teen's expression was caught between boredom, embarrassment and resentment. Her mobile rang. She picked it up. "Hi, Si! Yeah… Ah, nah. I'm with Mum and the brat."

"Milly! Don't call your sister a brat!" Milly stuck her tongue out at her mother. The woman scowled. "Do that again and I'll confiscate the damn thing." The little girl was blowing massive bubbles in her milkshake. "Baby, please don't do that. You're making a mess." The bubbles started to dribble down the side of the glass. The woman reached across the table and wiped the side of the glass with a napkin. Her eyes fell on the blue star pin her daughter wore. "Baby, why are you wearing that?"

"Adrian gave it to me. He said I could have it for my box of pretty things." She frowned up at her mother. "I like it."

"Baby-"

"He's dead," the girl burst out, "he doesn't wan' it anymore. He gave it to me, not you! You can't have it!"

The woman sniffed and looked away. Cars whizzed past on the road outside. She took a deep breath and turned back to her daughter. She grabbed the girl by the shoulders and shook. "Don't you ever talk to me like that again! Do you understand?"

The little girl was horrified. Tears welled up in her eyes and fell noisily to the table. Milly turned and saw. She pulled the little girl away, out of her mother's grasp. "The f-ing hell, Mum! Are you crazy? Lay off Nyssa." She hugged her sobbing sister. "Sorry, Si, gotta split. Mum and the brat are having a tiff." She hung up. Their mother was crying into her hands now.

She looked up and thumped the table. The two girls jumped. Her mascara had leaked down her face, making her look like something out of a Chinese ghost story. "Heaven knows I've loved you both from the day you were brought into this world! What have I done to deserve this?"

The girls stared at the table. Milly spoke first. "Mum, don't cry, it's embarrassing."

The woman gave a despairing giggle, but did not look up. "Mummy, I'm sorry. I don't want you to be sad." Nyssa slid off her seat and crawled under the table. She came up on the seat next to her mother. "Mummy, do you hate us?"

The woman sniffed. "Baby, you know I don't hate you – either of you." She hugged the child close to her. Milly looked the other way. "I could never hate you."

The little girl wiped her nose on her sleeve. "Mummy?"

"Yes, Baby?"

"Did you love the man in the blue spaceship?"

She sniffed and nodded.

"Did he love you too?"

"In his own funny little way I'm sure he did."

Milly had walked off to get a coke from the fridge. "Did you cry, Mummy, when you had to leave the strange man?"

"No, baby. Only in my dreams." Milly came back and sat down with her coke. "Milly?"

"What?"

The woman sniffed. "Don't be mad at me. Please."

"I'm not," she snapped back, and went back to talking to her boyfriend on the phone.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

Later the woman came and ordered a bowl of chips. The little girl ran over and tugged on her mother's sleeve. "I want chicken salt, Mummy."

"Okay, baby."

The little girl stared at Nyssa. Nyssa smiled. The woman tossed the hair from her face and ordered a few dim-sims as well. "Milly likes dim-sims," the little girl explained. Nyssa nodded. "I'm Nyssa, who is you?"

Nyssa laughed. "You are? I thought I was the only one with such a silly name. We should start a club."

The girl frowned. "I think it's a good name. My mummy gave it to me."

Nyssa nodded. The woman glanced at her and smiled. "Nyssa likes to talk. It drives her sister up the wall." She laughed. She had a faint Australian accent.

Nyssa frowned. Her heart skipped a beat. "Teagan? Teagan Jovanka?"

Teagan nodded and frowned. "How-"

Nyssa laughed at her confused expression, glad to see her friend once again after such a long time. "It's a long story. It would bore you."

Teagan's eyes widened, her mind working over-time. "Nyssa?" Nyssa nodded. "Oh my God! Look at you. You're all grown up."

Nyssa nodded. "Forty-two this year."

Teagan dashed around the counter and hugged her. The girl frowned and followed her mother. "What about you? Any midgets in toe?" Teagan patted her daughter's head.

Nyssa laughed. "Nah, gave it a shot once or twice, but," she shrugged, "no luck. It's a biological thing."

Teagan snorted. "It's all biology's fault, she says. Excuses, excuses, they all reply."

"Mummy, is she the girl who knowed Adrian Charlie?"

Teagan's smile faltered. She stared down at her daughter. "No, baby, Nyssa's never met Adrian Charlie."

Nyssa smiled. "Who's Adrian Charlie? Boyfriend?"

"Somethin' like that."

Nyssa shoved her in the arm. "Do I get to meet him? Is he cute?"

"He's dead."

Nyssa's smile vanished. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Me too." She sniffed suddenly and smiled. "But that's the past, and that's dead and gone now. Got to keep on living, huh?"

Nyssa nodded, a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'm sure you won't be alone for ever. You are totally hot, and exotic, guys like sheilahs like that." She burst into raucous laughter. Teagan smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

The bell above the door jingled and little Nyssa ran out to see who it was, bored with the grown-up talk. A twenty-something man scanned the room. He saw the teen on the mobile and strolled casually over to the counter, patting his leg as he went. He stopped when he saw the little girl. "Hello, darl." He crouched down to her height. "You ain't happened to see a lady called Nyssa around here somewhere have ya?"

The girl frowned. "I'm Nyssa."

The man smiled and held out his hand. "Daniel. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Nyssa smiled. "The other Nyssa is over there with Mummy." She pointed. "She's laughing like a mad person. She scared me."

The man laughed. "Scares us all, darl." He ruffled her hair and walked up to the counter. Teagan looked up at him. He lifted his hand up in a little wave and then placed it back down on the counter. "Having a bad hair day or something, Nyssa?"

Nyssa looked up suddenly. "I could kick you for that." Teagan passed her the clip that had fallen out of her hair. Nyssa smiled and came around the counter to meet Daniel.

He held out his arms. "Give us a hug." Nyssa frowned, as if to say, "No way." He put on the puppy dog eyes. She resigned, and made to hug him, but instead kicked him in the shins.

"No!"

"No fair."

Nyssa mock growled, but this time hugged him for real. He patted her hair.

Teagan watched them for a moment. Daniel caught her eye and smiled. She nodded.

"So why are you here?" Nyssa stared at him seriously.

"Wanted to say 'ello, didn't I? Is that a crime now?" Nyssa smiled. Daniel gave a comical little wave. "Hello."

She burst into laughter. "You're an idiot! I hate you." She kicked him in the shins again.

"I think you're ugly too, darl."

Nyssa hic-cupped. "Take that back!"

He backed away, as if fearful. "No. What are you gunna do?"

Nyssa took a step towards him. "You really wanna know?"

He shook his head frantically. "Uh-ah."

Nyssa laughed. "I'll spare you this once, but only because I'm in a charitable mood." She grabbed Teagan's arm and pulled her over. "This is Teagan."

Daniel nodded and held out is hand. "Daniel, pleasure to meet you." Teagan shook his hand. He turned back to Nyssa with wide eyes, rocking back and forth on his heels. He pointed from Nyssa to Teagan. "Are you two friends or something?"

"Something along those relative lines."

Daniel laughed and turned to Teagan. "Does Charity here seem a bit weird to you, or is it just me and my deranged mind?"

Teagan burst into laughter. "I've heard some good ones, but Charity? The both of you are just W-E-I-R-D."

Nyssa frowned and shoved Daniel in the arm. "Stop calling me names."

He narrowed his eyes. "Make me."

She growled, pounced on him, and pushed him up against the counter. "I'll hit you."

He grinned. "Don't you mean 'I'll hit on you'?"

She let go of him instantaneously and stepped back. "God, you're whacked."

"You got it."

Teagan was doubled over, killing herself laughing. Nyssa turned to her, exasperated. "It's not funny."

"Yes it is. You… You… You're so un-Nyssa-ish."

Nyssa stared at the ceiling. "And you're, like, so not Teagan. I think you must be an alien imposter. Oh no! Aliens have invaded the Earth. What do we do? Panic!"

Daniel held a hand over his mouth, but Teagan was lost, she could hardly breath for laughing.

* * *

Milly looked away from the window. Nyssa was sitting opposite her, eating chips out of the bowl absent-mindedly. Milly turned her attention to her mum. She rolled her eyes. "Mum is way off the charts. That woman's crazy, I swear. Dunno, arm, she met some old friend who's working as a – get this – dah, dah: waitress. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking." She put on a girlish voice. "When I grow up I wanna be a waitress, then a handsome prince will come and take me away to his castle, where I can waitress as long as I like and not get paid." She burst into laughter, her eyes wide in her face. She resumed in her normal voice. "I gotta get outta here. This place is like a nut house. It's got, like, weird mutant vibes or something…"


	6. Chapter 6

Nyssa sat at the bar. She wore a red dress. Teagan sat beside her talking to a blonde known as Jacki. They were talking about this Adrian Charlie character, whom Nyssa had never met. They seemed pretty well acquainted.

Nyssa took the notepad out of her handbag and stared at it for some time. Teagan looked across at her. She was smiling. She frowned.

Nyssa looked up at her and shook her head. "What does that look mean?" Teagan asked.

"What?"

"Hey?"

"It means 'what'."

"No, the other one? When you were staring at that thing?" She nodded towards the pad.

"Nothing."

"I'm not buying it. We're still friends, right?"

"What's that got to do with anything? I was thinking about my father."

Teagan looked at the ice-cubes floating in her drink. "Oh." Nyssa snatched the pad back off the bar and made to stow it in her handbag. She stopped and stared at Teagan.

"What?"

"Was that Adric's?"

Nyssa blinked. "No."

"It is, isn't it?" Teagan pulled it from he grasp. "Look. There." She pointed to the writing on the back of the notepad. It was written in Alzurian. "What does it say?"

Nyssa shook her head. "I don't know," she lied, "I wish I did." She knew very well what it said. _I am at your mercy, command me and I shall obey, cos these are rules for us._

* * *

"You little tosser!"

Nyssa looked up from the notepad to see a girl of about 19 running over, followed by a shy looking 23 year old. Jacki rolled her eyes. "How'd ya get Tudy outta her flat?"

The freckled teen threw herself into an unoccupied barstool. "Went ta see that book shop thingy what's-his-name worked at."

Jacki nodded, spinning around on her bar stool. "This is Paula and Tudor," she introduced her friends. Nyssa and Teagan muttered "hi"s.

Paula nodded. "You must be Teagan, 'ey? The Australian one?"

Teagan nodded. "Brisbane, yeah."

"Cool." Tudor was reading The Time Machine at the bar. Teagan widened her eyes curiously. "It's a Tudor thing."

Tudor looked up from her book, affronted. "Lot's of people read Herbert," she told them.

"Yeah, but lot's of people call him H. G. Wells and not 'Herbert'."

"Herbert is his name and I'll call him what I like!"

Paula rolled her eyes and turned away from her friend. She frowned. "Who's Miss Curly Hair?"

Teagan grinned. "She's Nyssa," she told the teen, sparing Jacki the need to answer.

Paula nodded. "Cool. Rose off with her future hubby again?"

Jacki rolled her eyes. "Yes, Rose is off with Dorian again." She was quite pleased with the little name she had come up with for the Doctor, after all he didn't really have a proper Earth name and Jacki thought that Dorian sounded cute.

"How's Mickey takin' all this, off with an older guy stuff?"

"Mickey's hatin' it!" Mickey replied from behind Jacki. "Anyone for a round a pool?"

Teagan slid off her bar stool. A tall man with dark hair joined the group. He slouched. "Man," he told Mickey, "We can't have a sheila playing pool with us!"

Teagan looked highly offended. Nyssa smirked. Mickey nodded thoughtfully. "Sorry, love, we gotta budget ta stick ta. Sheilas always win. I dunno but they jus' do, so we can't play with ya. Y'd rob us blind then we'd 'ave no money fa beer! Guys can't live without beer."

Jacki grinned. "C'mon guys, let 'er play. I'll pay ya back."

Mickey grumbled and turned to the tall man. The tall man resigned. "Yeah, okay, she can play."

Teagan gave them a glare. They smiled innocently. Teagan already knew Mickey but she didn't know the tall man. "I'm Emmy," he introduced himself, holding out his hand. "Dr. Maximillian Emmett Zachary to be exact."

Teagan threw her head back. "I knew a doctor once."

Emmy nodded. "What was 'e a doctor of?"

"All sorts, really, but nothing specific."

Emmy gave her a disbelieving look, still nodding slightly. "P'r'aps it was archaeology then," he reasoned. "Those lot are a mighty weird bunch."

"Possibly was. Let me put it this way, it certainly wasn't medicine. He was cute but and I don't know that archaeologists are cute."

Emmy frowned. "Good point. Philosophy then?"

Teagan's eyes widened. She grinned. "You know what, I bet it was!"

"Smashing!" He took her arm and they strolled off to play pool discussing philosophy and a book called 'Sophie's World' by some Norwegian they couldn't quite remember the name of except that they thought it had something to do with gardens.

"It was Jostein Gaarder," Tudor informed the remaining group.

Paula nodded. "Good fa Jossie!" She frowned for a moment. "Jossie a guy or Jossie a sheila?"

"A guy."

"Is 'e cute?"

"I guess."

"You don't like 'im do you? Herbert would get mad you know?"

Tudor sniffed. "No, I don't like him!" She got up ad stalked off.

Paula rolled her eyes. "That girl's really weird sometimes."

Jacki smirked. "C'mon Paula, give Tudy a break fa once. She ain't that weird."

Paula considered this. "No, I guess not. I met this new gf of Danny's. She is freaking me out, man. She's, like, inta this fashion called Gothloli. Man, I am so freaked!" She wandered off to play pool with the guys muttering about 'far out Goths'.

Jacki finished the rest of her brandy and thumped her glass down on the bar top. "I'm off ta play pool," she told Nyssa, slipping off her barstool. "Funny that, I never knew Adric was from overseas…"

Nyssa frowned. "What do you mean?"

Jacki shook her head, perhaps a little tipsy. "Yeah, he had a weird job, but no accent or nothin'."

Nyssa blinked, still frowning, her attention focused on Jacki wholly now. "You knew Adric?"

Jacki swayed. "Yeah, man. Oh, Gawd, I'm startin' ta sound like bloody Paula. So freaked. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. I… Rose is off with Dorian heaps so I kinda thought maybe I could do with a flat mate. Ta help pay the bills and rent and crap, like, I've so had too much brandy, I'm tellin' ya… Thought Teagy told ya 'bout Adrian Charlie? He worked at this bookstore place. I only bin there once meself."

Nyssa looked at her high-heeled boots for a moment. "Teagan did mention Adrian Charlie once or twice. He died, didn't he?"

Jacki nodded enthusiastically. "Got some disease or somethin'."

Nyssa looked up from her boots. "Why did you call him Adric then?"

"Said it was 'is nickname."

Nyssa nodded. "Oh. No, I don't suppose he was from overseas."

Jacki blinked slowly. "Ain't that writin' European or somethin'?"

"Alzurian."

"'Xactly!"

Nyssa's eyes widened suddenly. She gazed across at Jacki politely. "I see what you mean. My Adric is a different person to your Adric I'm afraid."

Jacki thought for a moment, swaying slightly. She laughed suddenly and shook her head. She wandered off, leaving Nyssa frowning slightly. Later Nyssa joined the rest of the group by the pool table. She ran her hands along the strange lettering on the notebook before stowing it back in her handbag safely.


	7. Chapter 7

Jacki had invited all the girls round to her place on Sunday afternoon for girl talk. Tudor sat on the sofa reading 'War of the worlds'. Paula was in the bathroom doing her make-up. Teagan and Jacki were talking about recipes. Nyssa wandered through the flat feeling distant and empty. Daniel had moved away to do some work at a school up North and Nyssa felt quite lonely not being able to talk to him, to see him. Teagan and her had grown apart somehow. As Teagan had said, she was so 'un-Nyssa-ish' these days. She sat in the laundry a while, to be away from the others. She had tried so long to forget her past with the Doctor, to forget that funny little boy whom she hadn't liked very much. Certainly, if she had been able to pick any boy she had wanted to give her heart to it wouldn't have been him. For a long time she tried to convince herself that she had hated him, but in truth she knew that it just wasn't so. In some absurd way she had loved him, not the way a girl usually loved a boy, true, but love all the same, a complicated sort of love. She was half glad Teagan hadn't persisted with her enquiry about the notebook for Adric had kept his promise not to tell the others about what had happened with Senet, and she thought that she wouldn't have been able to take it if Teagan ever found out. It had been many years now but all the years had not dulled the pain and shame inside.

Sometimes she wondered how the Doctor was, if he was well, if he had regenerated, what he looked like now, what new companions he had acquired and from where did they come? She had wondered a lot about Teagan but now she knew that Teagan was well and didn't worry quite so much.

And then she wondered that so many of the Doctor's companions had ended up settling off-world from their home-worlds. The TARDIS must have had some effect on the DNA that allowed for cross breeding between different species. It was fine to love someone but never to be able to have children with the person you loved wouldn't have been very fine. As it was the TARDIS enabled communication between species of different languages and even away from the TARDIS this effect seemed to persist.

Sometimes she missed Traken terribly and others it just seemed a fact of her existence. It was a little amusing to think that she was most probably the last of her race, a little sad too, but she tried not to think about that, tried to convince herself that someone else had survived the destruction of her home-world, someone who had left Traken for another star system for exploration and study perhaps.

She frowned. She had spotted a little notebook that seemed to have fallen behind the washing machine, or perhaps it had been hidden there. She knelt down on her knees and retrieved the little book. The front was quite plain with no words or markings of any sort. She wondered if she ought to open it, wondered if it was perhaps Jacki's diary or that of her daughter whom she had mentioned, Rose. She leant against the washing machine. A brief glance upward told her the hall was empty. She opened to the first page of the book.

_

* * *

_

On Earth they say talking to oneself is a sign of mental illness. I find this a very strange assumption but it is best not to question what they say because then they will really think you are 'mad'. It is not so bad, I guess, this Earth, these people. They say that they found me. Say that I was in some sort of stasis. They like me a lot, not in actual fact of the word and its literal meaning, but they like me because I am interesting. They say I am not of this world, not of this planet and I just say they are mistaken, that I am indeed a native of this planet. Still they do not believe me, nor my explanation that my 'foreign' genetics is a result of experimentation by aliens.

They believe in aliens, see, this UNIT. They say I am lying, but I just give them a blank look. It is all very amusing of course, especially when they tell me that I am now the property of this planet, this nation. I am not to go back to my planet, my people, as if I ever could.

The experiments are not very nice but I have grown to accept that here I have no rights. I still recall the time I first visited Earth, in the period known as the twenties. UNIT is very different to what I imagined Teagan's Earth time to be like.

They are always questions. A lot of questions. I have learnt other things also, such as that one must always eat with utensils. They are very intrigued by my physiology and biology. They tell me aliens are not the same as humans. Aliens do not have morals, they tell me. Whatever.

If humans really were so moral and grand would they have so many wars?

Sometimes I think that I should have died. Teagan and the Doctor would think me dead. Nyssa too, I guess. It is better that way, I think. I wonder if they wonder about me sometimes? I hope not. I expect Nyssa must hate me. I am not really caring anymore. Sixty five million years is a long time to sleep. Senet had put me in stasis. She had said that she could not help me and so she would put me in stasis until such time that she could. I guess she was still mad at me for defying her divine power and for releasing the Doctor. She must have liked him, I guess. Silly really, like she could ever really compete with Teagan.

Sometimes I miss Teagan and the Doctor. I don't miss Nyssa. I don't miss the way she you used to look through me when I tried to catch her eye, nor the pain I caused her every time my name was spoken, every time I was around her, every time I spoke with her or Teagan, just to hear my voice, just to know I was there, somewhere. I don't miss knowing that I had hurt her so much I could never make it up, no matter how long I lived, no matter how much I apologized and I don't miss the way she made me feel knowing all that I knew she felt. In some strange way I'm glad that she thinks me dead. Perhaps she feels a little safer now knowing that I am no longer around, knowing that I can never hurt her again. I certainly hope so.

Old age has made me glum. It's all so amusing really. It must have made me crazy too. I wonder about her sometimes. I know Teagan will be okay. She won't let anyone hurt her. The Doctor will go on somehow. Someday, someplace he will find another child to take in and lose again. Perhaps one day he will find some one in whose safety he can place his heart. Perhaps some day he will settle down and be happy. Some day he will realize that all the time has was searching for those to help he has really been searching for some way to help himself. I do not envy all the things he has seen, all the hurt caused and pain felt. I know one day his heart will be mended, he will find someone to make him whole, it is all just a matter of time. The rain must come before the plants can grow, before the clouds can fade away and the sun can shine again.

Sometimes I think that I can recall her smile. So happy she used to be. So hopeful, so innocent and ever so young. Someone so young shouldn't have to carry all the pain she carried, all the heartache for her people, her planet, her family. Teagan always thought her a child and I guess, me being a child, I forgot this. Oh how I adored her. Her brilliant mind. Her sweet disposition. That innocent smile. Her heart so open and unguarded, so willing to love, to give without thought for take. She was so different to all the other girls I had met. She intrigued me. She made me laugh so much and sometimes she upset me. Her confidence. Some days she was so sure of herself, that she must be right. She knew a lot more than I did and this annoyed me. It wasn't normal for a girl to be so clever. I took this as a sign of bossiness, of competition. I was so sure that I knew better than she did. How could she understand such things as science or philosophy, she was a perfect little girl but that was all she was, a pretty little thing. Pretty and clever never went together well. Romana had been pretty and clever too. Nyssa, I suppose, reminded me a little of her. Even Romana had needed saving sometimes. What else could a girl do but get herself in trouble and then need saving?

I don't think she liked me exactly, that first time we met on Traken, but she just… did something to my head. She was such a pretty girl, so innocent, her heart had never tasted heartache, her eyes had never known tears. How perfect she was. How perfect she walked and talked as if everything she did was planned.

But enough about my past. Evelyn Baker is back for our sessions. She is talking with Monty Jenkins at present, my handler, but she doesn't like him very much, anyone can see that, so I will have to finish writing. No doubt she will ask me what I am writing and I will tell her that I don't know, that the writing just comes to me, and that I have no idea what they mean. The thing about Traken literature is that it is so complicated and varied, the mathematics behind it so very complicated that she will find it very hard to decipher. Certainly I found it hard to learn. Funny thing was that when I started to learn the language every time I spoke to Nyssa it was as though I was hearing her in Trakenite and not Alzurian. Of course she had no way of knowing if I had spoken to her in Trakenite or not because the TARDIS translated all spoken words into Traken for her, just as She translated all words into Alzurian for me, difference was I was able to hear these words in their native language also, I suppose the TARDIS found me a little difficult. As a child they had always said I was a little dumb, that was until I discovered that I was good at mathematics. I guess they very much believed that I was cheating somehow at first, didn't want to believe that I was good at something, not that I wanted to be good at this 'something', of all the things I could have been good at why did it have to be mathematics. Nobody at school thought mathematics was very interesting or fashionable, some of them thought it was a stupid thing to be good at. I dunno, maybe I'm just different. I never did get round to asking the Doctor about the TARDIS's linguistics circuit. I imagine it was very complicated. The TARDIS's heart having connection to all of space and time was obviously how the circuit kept current with all the languages developing and dying here and there.

It must be very boring to know everything, very boring indeed, and very lonely. I wonder if the TARDIS gets lonely sometimes.

Anyhow, Evelyn has finished talking with Monty so I guess this is goodbye for now.

* * *

"Nyssa? What you readin'?"

Nyssa looked up, startled. Teagan stood in the door, frowning slightly. Nyssa snapped the book shut. "Nothing very interesting."

Teagan gave her that 'aw, come on' look. "I've been looking for you everywhere. I was calling for you. Didn't you hear?"

Nyssa blushed and shook her head slightly. "I must have somehow ov… No."

Teagan smiled grimly. "So what are you really reading?"

"I don't know. It isn't written in English."

Teagan gave her that 'oh, really' look. She strolled over and looked down at the book. She frowned. "That's definitely not English." Her eyes widened in her face. "I have an idea! Try reading it – go on! Remember how the TARDIS used to translate stuff for us if it was spoken? Well, maybe if you read it it would still work, translate it that is."

Nyssa frowned. "I don't think so. I don't know where to begin. I don't know what any of these symbols mean or their phonetics."

Teagan frowned, as if she thought Nyssa was being deliberately unhelpful. She looked back to the book. Jacki appeared it the doorway. She hurried over and snatched the book away. Both Teagan and Nyssa gave her a funny look. "That's Adrian Charlie's," she told them, "it's private."

Teagan shrugged. "We can't read it anyway."

Jacki blushed as though embarrassed by the way she had behaved. She smiled with some effort. "I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean too."

"That's okay," Teagan told her, "I'm not offended. How about you Nyssa?"

Nyssa shook her head and smiled. "Me neither. We were just wondering if you knew what it meant?"

"No. I didn't know it wasn't written in English. He did say he was leaning Elvish or something."

"Elvish?"

"An imaginary language made up for the 'Lord of the Rings' books."

Nyssa frowned. "Literature, I see."

Teagan snorted. "You don't know 'Lord of the Rings' by Tolkein?"

Nyssa shook her head, her bushy hair moving only slightly. "No."

Jacki grinned and walked off again. After a moment Teagan frowned. "You could read that, couldn't you?"

Nyssa gave her a deep frown. "No."

Teagan breathed out slowly. "I saw some books in the TARDIS library once written in funny characters like those so I asked the Doctor if it was Time Lord language. Do you know what he told me?"

"No."

"He told me it was Trakenite. Trakenite. You're Trakenite, Nyssa."

Nyssa blushed deeply, her eyes widening in her face. "I don't have to explain myself. But you do! You knew Adric was still alive and you never told me!"

It was Teagan's turn to blush. "He isn't alive! He died! Adrian Charlie died! I didn't think it was worth it to tell you he hadn't really died all those years ago only to tell you he was dead again and this time he was staying dead for good."

Nyssa refused to look her friend in the eye, too angry to do much but glare at her shoes. "Yes, I can read it," she retorted, "but as you say Adric is dead, so what does it matter now?" She stormed off past the older woman and disappeared into another room, presumably the lounge.

* * *

Nyssa sat in her kitchen thinking about what Adric had written. She took out the little notebook he had given her and glanced down at it again. If she wrote in it now would he still hear her and come back to her? Could he come back? No. He's dead, she told herself, he really is dead this time. Nothing you can say or do can change that fact. The Universe gave you a second chance and you ignored it, you dismissed it. Stuff the Universe!


	8. Chapter 8

Daniel sat at his desk finishing up some paperwork. He put his pen down and thought for a moment. He could not remember his past, could not recall a life before his work with Monty. He knew that his current job was just a ploy to cover up for his real operative, his mission. He wondered if he had a family, a mother and father, any sisters or brothers, a girlfriend perhaps, any pets, a dog, a cat, a goldfish? None of these questions had answers. All he knew was that he had known practically nothing before coming to the clinic, where Monty had told him who he really was and that he was his handler. The mission he had been working on had apparently gone wrong and he had been missing for fifty four days before they had been able to relocate him. They said his partner was still missing, a woman named Ginger Thorsen. His current assignment had to do with secret experiments that were being undertaken at the college he was working at. He had infiltrated the school to find out more about these experiments. UNIT believed that these experiments had to do with genetic enhancements being undertaken on specimens, human or not they did not know.

He brushed the hair out of his eyes and went back to his paperwork. Nyssa was probably worried about him. He could tell she was that sort of person. They had only met a few times in truth, but she seemed to have taken to him, despite the fact that he had been lying to her face. He put the thought of Nyssa out of his head and concentrated on the task at hand.

* * *

Nyssa had decided to take a holiday. She just needed to be away from the city. It was all so mechanical and clinical. She needed to be where she could hear nothing but the sound of her heart beat, her breath, the sigh of the wind. She needed to be back home, or as close to home as she would ever get.

The bus left Cardiff at eleven am but Nyssa took little notice of the time as the countryside flitted past her window, the low rhythmic sound of the motor and the tyres on the road sending her to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Notes** Extremely lame, I know... and this is where I stopped writing. I hope I didn't freak you out, and thank you for reading.


End file.
